Conventionally, electronic appliances such as information, television, and amusement appliances incorporate display devices. Representative of such display devices are liquid crystal display devices using liquid crystal. Specifically, liquid crystal display devices are used in mobile telephones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), DVD players, mobile game appliances, notebook PCs (personal computers), PC monitors, television monitors. etc.
In display devices conventionally in wide use, the display surface is usually flat. On the other hand, recent years have seen proposals of display devices having a curved display surface for, for example, design and other reasons (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 listed below). FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view showing the exterior structure of a conventional liquid crystal display device having a curved display surface.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the conventional liquid crystal display device 100, a display panel and a backlight disposed behind it are held between a pair of curved covers (consisting of a top cover 101 and a bottom 102) so as to form a curved display surface 103. The top cover 101 has an opening formed in it so as to expose the display surface 103.
In the liquid crystal display device 100, the display panel held between the top and bottom covers 101 and 102 is originally flat, and gets bent when held between the top and bottom covers 101 and 102 so as to produce the curved display surface 103. Consequently, in the conventional liquid crystal display device 100, the stress resulting from the display panel being bent causes problems such as displacement of the display panel and uneven display in the liquid crystal display presented on the display surface 103.